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Testimonials
"We really love TimeFox. We submit monthly
billing out to clients (I'm an in-house
designer). We normally billed around $2,000/month,
but thanks to better tracking my department
billed an all-time high of $10,000 last
month!"
Amber
Sawaya
Sawaya Consulting
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"I used to do 'guesstimates' and then drastically
reduce the estimated completion times when
billing because I could never really tell
how much time I was actually spending. With
the last two projects I've worked on, I've
seen, from the time -tracking, all the billable
time (and valuable money!) I would have
lost. Consequently, I've been able to boost
my profits in the space of just two weeks!"
Damola
Akintonde
ThinkBig! Creative
www.Thinkbig.com
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"Our PR and design agency looked diligently for a time and project tracking software application, only to find it right here in our own backyard. TimeFox paid for itself within weeks. Now we are accountable to our valued clients, we know how long we've worked on projects, and invoicing is a snap! I thank that little Fox every morning when he greets me upon log-in."
Maggie Kerr-Southin
Artemis Creative
Communications
www.artemispr.com
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FunctionFox
is committed to helping smaller creative
companies improve their business. TimeFox,
our web-based time and project-tracking
tool, is designed to help smaller advertising,
design, marketing and PR firms manage their
business, and do more with their valuable
time.
This month's newsletter deals with an issue
that all creative firms face. Are we charging
the correct amount for our services? Overcharging?
Undercharging? In this month's feature article
we look at the theory behind pricing creative
services. We have also included a
survey
about pricing practices. We
hope you'll take a few minutes to complete
it. Next month we will bring you the results,
and with submissions from across the world,
it promises to make fascinating reading!
Need tips on how to price your services?
We've also got a six-step process that will
take the guesswork out of the whole thing.
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Feature Article:
Six steps to pricing your services
Take the FunctionFox
Pricing Survey
Advertising
and Design News
FunctionFox
Referral Program
Contact FunctionFox
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Six
steps to pricing your services well
Are your prices too high? Too low? Do
you know? You want your pricing to be
competitive so clients will use your
service, but you don't want to leave
money on the table. Here's how:
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1. |
Have
a good time-keeping system. A good time-tracking
system will inform future estimates.
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2. |
Ask
the client about their budget. More
sophisticated clients gladly reveal
this information, knowing that they
can only get the most for their money
if you know how much there is.
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3. |
Ask
those who will be doing the work how
long they think it will take. Then multiply
the total by 1.2 or 1.5, depending on
the makeup of your staff. If the total
time might add up to 400 hours at $100
per hour, or $40,000, we'll multiply
by 1.2 and assume $48,000.
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4. |
Estimate
the total days that one person would
require to get the entire project done.
We'll estimate that it would take one
person, working 40-hour weeks, about
16 weeks to do this project. At the
same hourly rate, that's $64,000.
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5. |
Pick
a number halfway between the two. In
this case, $57,000 will be pretty close.
Round up to $60,000 and you probably
have a pretty accurate number. Look
at similar projects (hours spent, not
just hours billed) and see how your
estimate compares. |
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6. |
Debrief
everyone when the project is complete.
If hours expended exceed hours estimated,
determine why so that you can learn
from your mistakes. |
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This article
has been provided by ReCourses. For more
information, please visit their web site
at
www.recourses.com.
For additional
resources please visit our Resources at
http://www.functionfox.com/resources.html
If you have
an article that you would like to share
with FunctionFox customers, please contact
us at 1.866.369.8463 or email
info@functionfox.com.
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Want to know what rates are being charged in your area?
Click below to complete our Pricing Survey.
Watch for the results in next
month's About Time Newsletter.
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Measuring Design
In the past decade, we've witnessed a sea
change in the way the business world regards
design. But even as leading brands embrace
the "good design is good business" mantra,
neither designers nor business leaders in
the U.S. have been able to produce a measurement
for calculating how investment in design
actually translates into profits.
Design professionals in the U.K., however,
are taking steps to connect the dots between
design and profitability. The London-based
Design Business Association is leading the
way with its annual Design Effectiveness
Awards, which recognize design work not
on its visual merits, but on how it meets
the client's business objectives.
Deborah Dawton, DBA's chief executive (and
HOW MYOB speaker), took some time to talk
with HOW about how her organization promotes
good design as a business strategy and what
creative professionals—not just in the U.K.
but in the States, as well—can do to convince
clients of design's bottom-line value.
For the full story, visit:
http://www.howdesign.com/db/features/measuringdesign.asp
Graphex 2008 is an Icograda-endorsed national
design competition that has been celebrating
the best of visual communication in Canada
since 1977. The primary goals of Graphex
are to promote the value of design to the
Canadian public and business community -
Good Design Is Good Business - and to create
an archive of Canadian design for future
generations to reflect upon and study. Graphex
thrives on learning from and rewarding those
designers who are addressing increasingly
complex and diverse creative challenges.
As such, the theme for Graphex 2008 positions
the winning entry as not only the end result
of a tournament style process of elimination
but also as the catalyst for a ripple effect
of influence upon the world at large. The
point of this is to highlight the fact that
while many designers do not often look past
the moment of winning an award, there are
larger issues at stake and greater possibilities
for change than whatever was the design's
original intention. In doing so, we are
reminded of both the importance of design's
place in society and the responsibility
that designers must assume as a result.
Who can enter?
awards program open to all Canadian professional
graphic designers, typographers, photographers,
illustrators, art directors, ad agencies,
printers, writers or clients.
www.gdc.net/graphex/
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If you refer
someone to FunctionFox, and they purchase
a TimeFox subscription, we'll give you a
month's subscription to TimeFox! Refer 12
new customers, you'll get a whole year's
subscription on us!
Don't miss this chance to pass the word
and realize considerable savings!
Here's how: Ask the person you refer to
enter your name/company under 'Referral
(Client or Friend)' when they sign up for
a demo at
www.functionfox.com/demo
or tell a friend at
www.functionfox.com/referral_program.
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For a TimeFox
Demo, go to:
www.functionfox.com/demo
To arrange a guided tour of TimeFox, please
send your request to:
info@functionfox.com
To order a TimeFox subscription, go to:
www.functionfox.com/purchase
If you would like your company to be featured
in a TimeFox newsletter, on our website
or in our promotional package, please send
your request to:
info@functionfox.com
You can opt out of the About Time Newsletter
at:
www.functionfox.com/newsletter/no_thanks.asp
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